I'm Neither Here nor There: Mexicans' Quotidian Struggles with Migration and Poverty

Chapter 6, "Transnational Cultural Memory," analyzes popular music as a site of political and cultural production. Drawing on the work of cultural theo- rists, [Patricia Zavella] describes her case stud- ies as "archives of feelings," that is sites that produce meaning not only through their production, but also their reception. One example is the role and the power of Spanish-language radio both in the US, where the industry has grown at a time when radio in general is less popular, and rural Southern Mexico, where it allows Indigenous and marginalized communi- ties to produce and consume information and culture. These archives of feelings, Zavella demonstrates, are transnational and also embody peripheral vision. The chapter focuses on three musicians/ musical groups - Los Tigres del Norte, Lila Downs and Quezal - looking at their history and how their music genre and body of work have been taken up in Mexico and the US Los Tigres del Norte play norteño music, a genre "influenced by German and Czech settlers" in north- ern Mexico featuring "the accordion and polka-style dancing." (193) Their music discusses varied topics including migra- tion stories, deportations, the femicides in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, and the drug trade. Although Los Tigres do not iden- tify themselves as political, despite their role in migrant rights marches in the US since 2006, Zavella demonstrates the transnational political links Los Tigres create in the US and Mexico through their music. The work of Lila Downs and Quetzal is also transnationally po- litical, taking up a "peripheral vision." Both try to disrupt static representations of Mexicans, Mexican-ness and being Chicana/o. Particularly important is how the group Quetzal discusses its political influences and decision-making process to making music, which is influenced by Chicana feminists.